Professor (Practice)

Tel (65) 6357 7911
Email yee_sin_leo@ncid.sg

LEO Yee Sin

Prof Leo Yee Sin’s distinguished service to Singapore’s battles against infectious diseases is well documented.  She has led her team through multiple outbreaks in the last 2 decades and these include Nipah, SARS, the pandemic influenza, Zika, and multiple surges of Dengue. She successfully managed Singapore’s first imported case of the Monkeypox in May 2019.  Her current priority is now in the challenging fight against Covid-19. 

Having published more than 300 scientific papers, Prof Leo has made significant contributions to clinical development, academic research and public health policies.  Topics of her research interest include dengue, influenza, emerging infections, HIV and Covid-19.

Recognised as a leading infectious disease expert, Prof Leo serves on many clinical committees, locally and internationally.

Prof Leo also enjoys teaching and mentoring her junior doctors.

Affiliation

  • NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health (Adjunct Professor)
  • Executive Director, National Centre for Infectious Diseases
  • NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine (Clinical Professor)
  • Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (Adjunct Professor)

Research Areas

  • HIV Medicine
  • Communicable Diseases and General Infectious Diseases
  • Emerging infections

Teaching Areas

  • HIV/AIDS
  • Dengue
  • Emerging infections

Academic/Professional Qualifications

  • MBBS. National University of Singapore. 1983
  • M Med (Internal Med). National University of Singapore. 1989
  • MRCP (UK). Royal College of Physicians, UK. 1989
  • FAMS. Singapore. 1995
  • FRCP. Singapore. 2003
  • ISTM Cert in Travel Health. The International Society of Travel Medicine, US. 2012
  • Master of Public Health. Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health. 2013
  • Cert of Specialist Accreditation. Ministry of Health. 2020
  • Certificate of Specialist Registration. Singapore Medical Council 2020

Awards/Honours (in 2020)

  • 10 August 2020, National Day Award –The Public Administration Medal (Silver)
  • November 2020 – BBC 100 Women List

Career History

  • 2017 – Current, Executive Director, National Centre for Infectious Diseases
  • 2013 – Current, Senior Consultant, Dept of Infectious Diseases
  • 2002 – 2012, Senior Consultant, Head of Infectious Diseases
  • 1996 – 2001, Consultant at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Dept of ID
  • 1990 – 1995, Registrar at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Dept of ID
  • 1983 – 1990, Houseman & Medical Officer at Ministry of Health

Administrative Leadership

  • Executive Director, National Centre for Infectious Diseases
  • Director, Institute of Infectious Diseases & Epidemiology
  • Head, Department of Infectious Diseases
  • Clinical Director, Communicable Diseases Centre
  • Program Manager, Funding of National Disease Control Program
  • Principal Investigator for Centre Grant, CDC since 2013

Professional/Consulting Activities

  • Inpatient/Outpatient duties at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases
  • Provide ID consultation to Public Health Institutions
  • Travellers’ Health Vaccination Clinic at Tan Tock Seng Hospital
  • MOH – Advisor, COVID-19 Clinical Management Committee
  • MOH – Chairperson, COVID-19 related Mortality Review Committee
  • MOH – Chairperson, Expert Committee on Bioterrorism Threats (ECBT)
  • HSA – Member, Blood Advisory Committee
  • Medicines Advisory Committee, Singapore – Member, Expert panel for COVID-19 Vaccines
  • The Lancet Regional Health, Western Pacific – Advisory Board Committee
  • World Health Organisation – Chairperson (Clinical), WHO-Clinical practice guideline on Remdesivir in severe COVID-19 Infection
  • World Health Organisation – Member, GDG Panel on Therapeutics and Covid-19
  • World Health Organisation – Member, GDG Panel on COVID-19 Rapid Review Progress
  • World Health Organisation – Member, Clinical Advisory Group [Global COVID-19 Anonymized Clinical Data Platform]
  • World Health Organisation – Member, World Health Organisation – Clinical management nCOV respiratory

Selected Publications

  • Lamontagne F, Agoritsas T, Macdonald H, Leo YS, …, Vandvik PO. A living WHO guideline on drugs for covid-19. BMJ. 2020 Sep 4;370:m3379. doi: 10.1136/bmj.m3379. PMID: 32887691. (IF=30.223). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32887691/
  • Young BE, Ong SWX, Ng LFP, …., Lin RTP, Leo YS, Renia L, Wang LF, Lye DC; Singapore 2019 Novel Coronavirus Outbreak Research team. Viral dynamics and immune correlates of COVID-19 disease severity. Clin Infect Dis. 2020 Aug 28:ciaa1280. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciaa1280. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 32856707. (IF=9.117). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32856707/
  • Young BE, Fong SW, Chan YH, …., Leo YS, Wang LF, Renia L, Lee VJ, Smith GJD, Lye DC, Ng LFP. Effects of a major deletion in the SARS-CoV-2 genome on the severity of infection and the inflammatory response: an observational cohort study. Lancet. 2020 Aug 29;396(10251):603-611. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(20)31757-8. Epub 2020 Aug 18. PMID: 32822564. (IF=60.392). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32822564/
  • Lee PH, Tay WC, Sutjipto S, …., Leo YS, Lye DC, Lee TH. Associations of viral ribonucleic acid (RNA) shedding patterns with clinical illness and immune responses in Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Clin Transl Immunology. 2020 Jul 27;9(7):e1160. doi: 10.1002/cti2.1160. PMID: 32742654. (IF=7.271). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32742654
  • Rochwerg B, Agarwal A, Zeng L, Leo YS, …., Guyatt G. Remdesivir for severe covid-19: a clinical practice guideline. BMJ. 2020 Jul 30;370:m2924. doi: 10.1136/bmj.m2924. PMID: 32732352. (IF=30.223). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32732352/

Media Coverage

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